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Kamloops is currently experiencing a flash flood as severe thunderstorms take over the weather in the area.
Up to 20 mm of rain were expected in the area and sewers and drains have begun to back up all over the city.
The sudden downpour is wreaking havoc on the road systems and social media is going crazy with photos and videos of the flooding.
Angelo Iacobucci with Radio NL says crews are doing all they can to keep up.
“Kamloops City Hall is flooded, Kamloops Fire Hall Number 1 is flooded. Highway 5 going into the North Thompson near Sun Rivers, a landslide has closed one of the lanes going north. So, basically what we have is widespread flooding, no injuries, but we haven’t seen a deluge like that in this city for 35 years.”
He says people are being told to stay off the roads. “The main bridge to get from north Kamloops to south Kamloops, called the Overlander Bridge, one of the lanes is blocked off because of debris. There are cars in underpasses under 10 to 20 feet of water.”
Yikes! #thunderstorm in Kamloops pic.twitter.com/J0Jyaz50J9
— Lynette DuJohn (@LynetteDuJohn) July 23, 2014
Public Works Director Jen Fretz says the city is trying to keep the sewer and storm system running.
“We have over 60 staff from public works on the ground with multiple pieces of equipment and we are going everything we can with what we’ve got.”
Meanwhile the Mayor of Kamloops, Peter Milobar, doesn’t think he’s ever seen this kind of quick flash flooding in his community.
”Every so often you get a big hit like this but certainly it was one that is pretty hard pressed to come up in memory when it has come down this hard and this fast. It was very short lived but certainly lots of volume of water and we will have several days of clean up ahead of us in terms of basements and things like that.”
Milobar says it’s too early to speculate on the extent of damage.
Agencies/Canadajournal
